Archive for Rebecca Tay

Designer clothes at discount prices: We explore the new wave of online retail with a tour of The Outnet headquarters in London

By | April 26th, 2012 | 10:00 am

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Designer clothes at discount prices

Online-shopping veteran Rebecca Tay explores the digital world of discount ready-to-wear while taking an exclusive tour of The Outnet’s HQ in London.

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Online-shopping virgins are rare these days. Any girl worth her weight in Wang (whether it’s Alexander or Vera) has not only done the deed but also experimented with the latest spine-tingling activity: trolling the web for designer discounts. Who hasn’t hit the sheets with their laptop primed for a little ready-to-wear rollback action? Half-price Lanvin ballet flats? Yes, please! Erdem floral dresses for a fraction of their original price? Click: “buy!” E-boutiques like Shopbop, Asos and Net-A-Porter have huge followings, but the new stars of the online retail world are the luxury-good bargain hunters. When it comes to these price-choppy waters, The Outnet is the mother ship, drawing more than one million unique visitors every month. It was launched in 2009 as an offshoot of Net-A-Porter, which was one of the first companies to offer designer brands online. With more than 200 high-end labels to browse, including Stella McCartney, Marni, Balmain and Marc Jacobs, this site is a destination for marked-down must-haves. Boots that once cost a month’s rent are now $200; almost everything, from Alexander McQueen to Zac Posen, is 50 to 70 per cent off. It’s a virtual dream, but I get the chance to see if this fairy-tale land of luxe-for-less really exists beyond the screen when I receive an exclusive invitation to spend a day at The Outnet. Read more »

LFW Diary: The last of the scoop from London including standout shows from Mary Katrantzou and Middleton fave Roksanda Ilincic

By | February 22nd, 2012 | 11:00 am

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Photography by Antonio de Moraes Barros Filho/WireImage

Quick post today, since a gazillion traffic accidents prevented me from actually getting to half my shows on time—or at all. Regardless, catching Mary Katrantzou’s stunner of a show (which, for the second season in a row, kicked off the last day of London Fashion Week) made it all worth it. Deceived by the first few looks, which were dominated by silvers and shadows, I imagined that this would be a toned down collection (at least in palette). Boy, was I wrong. Stiff pleats and equally stiff peplums were bolstered by every shade of blue, green, and pink you could imagine; if anyone can invent a new colour or colour combo, it’s Mary. Also new were her prints: spoons, pencils, curtain tassels, typewriters, and other household items were blown up and their digitized versions lent the collection a quirky air. The standout pieces for me, however, were the dresses fashioned from layers and layers (I counted four on one dress) of printed mesh—each had a half inch–thick banded hem that curled the edges of each layer, lending enormous volume to the pieces. Nicholas Mellamphy of the Room at the Bay called this series of dresses “mille-feuille,” and that is exactly how they appeared.
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LFW Diary: More brilliant showings from Peter Pilotto, Burberry, and Christopher Kane. Plus, Kanye shows up front row at Mark Fast!

By | February 21st, 2012 | 9:00 am

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The Burberry finale shot by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images

It brings a tear to my eye that London Fashion Week is almost all over for another season—but my feet are not-so-silently rejoicing. A 9 a.m. start at Peter Pilotto meant leaving the house just past 8 this morning, but it was worth it. The Topshop venue, which is the old Billingsgate Market this season, always serves up coffee, tea, and all sorts of yummy dishes (yesterday there was a creamy soup with truffle oil; today there was porridge for breakfast); there’s also the NewGen pop-up where I scored the Erdem tank with a blue porcelain print and white lace collar and the Mary Katrantzou floral tee. Breakfast, shopping, and a show? Every day, please.
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LFW Diary: Lana Del Rey and Downton Abbey’s ladies at Mulberry, true love at Jonathan Sauders, and a whole half hour with Tom Ford

By | February 20th, 2012 | 9:00 am

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Photography by David Bennet/Getty Images

View the many (and we mean many) Mulberry celeb attendees »

Where to begin. With the celebs? Lana Del Rey (carrying the namesake Del Rey bag from the ever-growing fashion house), Michelle Williams, the surprisingly petite Elizabeth Olsen, Leigh Lezark, and Ladies Mary and Edith Crawey—I mean Michelle Dockery and Laura Carmichael—all sat front row at Mulberry; and then there were the models (Jacquetta Wheeler, Irina Lazareanu) and It girls Poppy Delevigne and model/It girl/socialite Caroline Sieber at Matthew Williamson.
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LFW Diary: The dispatch from Temperley, Issa, Todd Lynn, and a roundup of Brit celebs who sat “frow”

By | February 19th, 2012 | 12:00 pm

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Anais Pouliot at Temperley London shot by Mike Marsland/WireImage

Day two of London Fashion Week was a day of literal show themes. First off was Moschino Cheap & Chic, showing in London for the first time—its “Make Up Your Life” Fall collection set in Portland Place (random factoid: this is near the Portland Hospital, where everyone from Victoria Beckham to Claudia Schiffer have given birth). Before the show, we were treated to cocktails and lemonade in the grand living room of a Georgian house; makeup chairs had also been set up to go along with the theme, though the Brit celebs I spotted—Nicola Roberts, Pixie Lott, and a pregnant Peaches Geldof—didn’t seem to take notice. Also present: Olivia Palermo.
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LFW Diary: The dispatch from Day One including Jean-Pierre Braganza, Felder+Felder, and the madness from the Mary Katrantzou for Topshop opening

By | February 18th, 2012 | 1:00 pm

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Jean Pierre Braganza shot by Danny Martindale/WireImage

What better way to start London Fashion Week than practically getting physically violated at Topshop, where Mary Katrantzou‘s collection launched this morning? Not! But forget that—on to the shows!
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Spring 2012 preview: London

By | January 17th, 2012 | 10:00 am

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Spring 2012 preview: London

From hot spots to celebrity front-rowers, London fashion week was brimmed with hot designer collabs, florals and balloons!

View our editor’s picks »

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LFW backstage beauty: A red wine–stained, snogged mouth at Giles

By | September 21st, 2011 | 3:00 pm

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“It’s all about a red wine–stained, snogged mouth,” said Lucia Pieroni of the makeup at Giles Spring 2012 show, applying M.A.C’s lip pencil in “Brick” onto the inside of the mouth and “Burgundy” on top, blended outward with a Q-tip. “There’s no defined line around the edge, but it’s quite dark in the middle.” The rest of the face was quite bare—a smidge of “Russian Red” lipstick on the cheeks, rubbed in with a large brush and a bit of lip balm on the eyelids, tops of the cheeks, and on the bridge of the nose for a bit of highlight.
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